Fandom Terms

It has occurred to me that most people in the world do not know what an OTP is or maybe even what a fandom is. I figured that google would sort of come into play at some point or someone would use the context to learn what some of the things I say mean during my never-ending monologues. I have finally thought that this is probably overdue and I should explain some of my nerd slang.

Courtesy of Pintrest

The word 'fandom' come from mushing the words fanatic and domain into one word, it basically means a group of people that like the same actor, band, TV show, anime, book, webcomic, etc. The populations that make up fandoms are called fangirls or fanboys, depending on gender. These people are sometimes really closely knit groups in real life or online. Now, you might be wondering, what do these strange subcultures do besides share a common like for something?

These people sometimes cosplay, ship, draw fanart, write fanfictions, role-play, go to conventions, and worship their actor, band, TV show, anime, book, webcomic, etc. Cosplay is when a person dresses up like a character from their fandom and at Anime Bonzi most of what I saw was from an anime or Homestuck. You may have heard of ComicCon or something similar, but it is basically a gathering of fandoms that nerd out together and there are panels where people talk about anything from headcanons to origami to actors talking about filming.

Fanart and fanfics are fan created drawings and stories that revolve around characters in the stories or original characters created by a fan. Shipping is when you like the idea of two characters being in a relationship, and it can be platonic or romantic as well as canon or not. The acceptance of shipping varies from fandom to fandom. A Headcanon is an event or fact that someone likes. An example being that a character is secretly ticklish or what their height is.

Going back to shipping, the ship that you consider your favorite is called an OTP, and although it stands for One True Pairing, most fangirls have a dozen or more. A common word used by all fans is 'feels' as in feelings, because typing out ing is too much to do when your feels have been hurt. Finally an AMV or MEP are some fanart with music playing in the background. They stand for Animated Music Video and Multi Editing Project respectively, the main difference being that more people work on a MEP.

After getting such an amazing crash course in fandom slang, you are ready to dive face first into the world of fandoms and read this blog with a basic understanding of what I am saying some of the time. Either of those, or you are just really very scared and want nothing to do with fandoms or anything like them ever again and have probably stopped reading. Whichever one you are, you can now better understand some of the nerds you will meet.

Homstuck Cosplays

I have been looking at a few ideas for a cosplay for the next Anime Bonzi. Since the fandom that I share with the most of my friends is Homestuck, it is a safe bet to assume that we will be doing a group cosplay of it. Last Amine Bonzi we planned to go as Homestuck one day, Fairy Tail the next (mostly because Milly is oddly very persuasive), and have the last day be a sort of free for all madness day. Sadly I did not make the last day and missed out on interesting panels, Japanese candies, and a truth or dare game that I am more than a bit happy to have skipped. The other two days cosplays turned out well, with the exceptions of the loss of a wig and the fact that Tavros's giant bull horns are not meant for crowded spaces and therefor broke about five or so times.

It makes sense to do a cool group cosplay, and no one wants to cosplay a reference that they do not get, so Homestuck is a good solution. I think that I would like to cosplay either Vriska or Karkat, since I think a Vriska would be cool to do and I have the horns for Karkat. It might also be fun to try Tavros again, maybe with crowd friendly horns this time. Any of the Alpha or Beta kids would be fun to cosplay as well, it is so difficult to chose which one I would want to cosplay the most, but probably Jade. I feel like she is the kid I look the most like, and she is not a usually cosplayed character when Godteir. At least I did not see any Godteir Jades at the convention.

The Beta kids from left to right: Dave, Rose, John, and Jade

I have seen a few amazing cosplays on google images and if I am being honest, they were intimidatingly good. So for the past few weeks I have been simultaneously being inspired to make a fantastic cosplay and scared that anything I do would not be nearly as good. I would have loads of fun making something as intricate as that no matter what it turned out looking like.

I would also have fun cosplaying a supernatural character like Sam Dean or Cas. There are loads of Hetalia cosplayers so a chibitalia (baby Italy) or Canada. Maybe even a Nordic like Finland or even Denmark. The possibilities are endless (Actually around 50 or so but whose counting?).  I know that my friends would probably want to go as their favorite trolls like they did last year, Sollux for Milly and both Terezi and Nepeta for Alice, but if we got another person going as Godtiered Alpha or Beta kids would also be very fun to go as. That sounds like a good plan, now I will just have to go find someone to turn into a proper Homestuckian. Well, I have until September so I may just have enough time to convert someone into a Homestuck, wish me luck! Oh and for anyone looking for a cool cosplay help, here is the best website for that.

Anime Bonzi 10th Anniversary

I got to go to Anime Bonzi last weekend. The panels were interesting and funny, I bought tons of fandom merch, and all the people were super nice and cool to talk to. Honestly if I could go back every weekend, I would.

It started on Friday when Alice picked me up. I was cosplaying as Tavros, Milly was Sollux and Alice was Terezi from Homesuck. We had to wait in line for a half an hour, but we got to talk to a Canada cosplayer. She was extremely nice and I talked to her for an hour before I realized any time had passed. On the first day I spent most of my time talking to people and helping choose which toy llama my friend Sarah should buy. I only went to one panel that day, Reading vs Writing and it was fun to talk about fanfics we had written or read. I also bought lots of merch, including a Supernatural pin, a plushie Darlek, a Prussia wall scroll and a Sherlock purse. It was a truly beautiful thing.

Prussia, ze awsomest! And Gilbird on has head.

The second day I was Aries from Fairytail and loads of people asker to take pictures with me. It was tons of fun again and I was also able to meet up with the people I had seen the day before. Although I went to way more panels on Saturday including origami 101 (I FINALLY made a swan!), a Doctor Who scavenger hunt (got to keep a commemorative bow tie and everything), a Fairytail one (Spoilers D:) and most of a very intreating Hetalia panel (they had a cool Russia). I made friends with 2 Terezis, a grimdark Rose, a Prussia, Jake English(yes, he had an english accent), and a very attractive Dave Strider. There was also a Batman in a hot tub, but I didn't nor do I ever want to know. I also bought some cute Supernatural and Hetalia stickers.

Moral of the story, whenever given the chance go to a fan convention because it is amazing. I had so much fun, and I'm taking all my friends who didn't go this year next time.

top left to bottom right England and a mint bunny, Russia with a metal pipe, Italy with a white flag, and Germany judging them all, Sam, Castiel, and Dean